Edith
Lewis (December 22, 1881–August 11, 1972)[1][2]
was a magazine editor at McClure's Magazine, the managing editor of
Every Week Magazine,
and an advertising copywriter at J. Walter Thompson Co. Lewis was
Willa Cather's
domestic partner and was named executor of Cather's literary estate in
Willa Cather's will. After Cather's death, Lewis published a memoir of
Willa Cather in 1953 titled Willa Cather Living.[3]

Lewis graduated from Smith College in 1902. Following her graduation,
she relocated to her hometown, Lincoln, Nebraska, to teach for a year.[4]
While in Lincoln, she met Willa Cather for the first time at the home of
the publisher of the Lincoln Courier, Sarah Harris.

La Fonda on the Plaza, Santa Fe, NM

Although historically scholarship concerning Edith Lewis in the context
of Willa Cather's career have painted her as a mere copy editor or
secretary, recent work has indicated that Edith Lewis had a rich editorial
and professional career that had a significant impact upon Willa Cather's
creative process.[5]

Lewis shared a home with Willa Cather in New York City for almost 40
years. When Edith Lewis acquired a summer cottage on the island of Grand
Manan in New Brunswick, Canada in 1926, the two shared a summer home
there.[6]

Lewis died on August 11, 1972 [7]
and is buried beside Willa Cather in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.